Cashmere begins as the fine undercoat of a goat, then passes through sorting, dehairing and spinning before it becomes cloth. Fibre measurements help identify it, but yarn, fabric construction and care instructions matter when judging a finished garment.
The fine undercoat
Cashmere comes from the fine undercoat of the cashmere goat (Capra hircus laniger), separated from its straighter, coarser outer guard hair. That name identifies a fibre source, not a particular knit or finished garment. In the EU textile-fibre list, cashmere is linked to hair from the Kashmir goat.1,2,3,4
From down to yarn
The down is collected during the goats’ spring moult by combing or shearing. It is sorted and washed, then dehaired to remove coarse guard hairs and remaining plant matter before spinning. The resulting yarn can be woven or knitted.2
What fibre measurements mean
Microns measure fibre diameter, not the thickness of a spun yarn. For US wool-product labelling, the Federal Trade Commission describes cashmere as dehaired goat undercoat with an average fibre diameter of at most 19 microns and no more than 3% by weight of fibres over 30 microns; the permitted coefficient of variation around the mean is at most 24%. Under the EU fibre-name list, cashmere is defined by animal source, with no equivalent diameter threshold. These US figures define a labelling category, not a universal grade for finished knitwear.3,4,5
The essentials
- Family
- Undercoat hair of the cashmere goat
- Forms
- down fibre, dehaired fibre, yarn, knitted textile, woven textile
- Properties
- fine undercoat beneath coarser guard hair, graded by measured fibre diameter, the finished piece depends on yarn, construction and finish
